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We've been working alongside teachers while we revamp and refresh our Standard Grade Bitesize sites. A bit of subject expertise and classroom reality helps keep us and the content right, we hope. So last week with a visitor with fresh eyes to our resources in for three days, we thought we'd get her to give us a wee write-up of how she got on and what she thought of our content as is. She left us with a jolly card and plenty of posh biscuits, so hopefully her comments are going to be as nice...

I'm from , Faculty of Creative Industries. This year's batch of hopeful students have just joined us. New starts, all ready for a new session. They arrive like a human storm with all their ambitions and anxieties, some straight from school and a sprinkling of adult returners harbouring mature student angst. Then it's non-stop for another year.

It was last week, B.S., (Before the Students arrive), or never. I was let out. I'm on the loose looking for inspiration, and where better to find it than at the ´óÏó´«Ã½, to see what they do to support the learning community. I'm with the Learning team, learning(!), about what they already do (and that's plenty), and the new initiatives they've got in the pipeline. How do you support the whole learning community of Scotland, top-to-bottom, teachers and learners, from nursery to college and beyond? With a lot of creativity and ingenuity as I've discovered - and good teamwork, that's what.

Cards on the table now... I had seen the e-mail, I knew the Learning site was there, but didn't know it well. So the first task was to see what was on offer, and wander. That's the key for most of us - taking the time to look. If you you don't get direct to the Scottish stuff, which is a bit off-putting. You have to go to Nations and select Scotland to get into material that relates to the Scottish Curriculum and exam system.

But once you're in, the range of resources is impressive. I was tempted to stay in the Nursery and Primary education area, which looked fun, but moved to the video library which gives you news or other clips - and not necessarily full programmes. Plenty of short clips to sprinkle into the lesson plan. Bitesize looked really useful for school-teachers and pupils, following the syllabus for the various subjects in digestible chunks.

Not much for the FE sector here unless you're delivering standard Higher syllabus subject material. And nothing for our Media classes there either, so there are gaps. For instance newer subjects like Higher Psychology and Sociology are not covered at all. We'll need to canvass for space. It's traditional school curriculum only at the moment. But I soon grasped the magnitude of what the team have already achieved and are continuing to achieve when I saw what's involved in creating just one course on Bitesize. They'll get round to us in Media and Social Sciences. (You will, won't you?). is where you get to see what's actually going on in schools around the country: projects and events, and schools doing things in the community.

That might seem like plenty to keep the team here going, but in three days I've been in on as many planning meetings for new initiatives, like new material for Genius that's designed to boost motivation and help students prepare for exams. Watch this space! Every time there's a real creative buzz in the process, genuine awareness of how the material's going to be used out there in classrooms, and lots of emphasis on interactive programming that could engage learners. Maybe there's a place for giving the pupils more of a voice on the Learning Zone, but if we expect that to happen we've got to introduce the pupils to what LZ does for them.

Speaking of which I'll be roaming the Learning Zone for material in future and watching for the latest developments. I'd recommend anyone else to do the same. Try to squeeze in a brief exploratory visit, even if you don't get 'time out' like me.

And now it's back to the classroom.

Mollie Tubb

Claire was mentioning our development day the other week, stuff we're going to be working on over the year. But we're always listening and interested in hearing what people want us to produce - we receive, read and respond to emails but now you can have your say a bit more publicly by commenting on this blog. We're very interested too to know what you think we're not getting right, as well as any encouragement or ideas for improvement.

Mollie mentions Genius, a working name for project that's just starting out. A little bit more about that next week. Alistair Mooney